Chapter 10.
NAR SHADDA SPACEPORT
(10 B.B.Y.)
Harlek Wynn had been born and raised on the planet Dathomir, in the Quelii Sector, as a Nightsister of the Nardithi Clan. Then, one day, while single-handedly hunting a wild rancor for saddle-breaking purposes as a rite of adult womanhood, she met (and was subsequently persuaded to accompany off-world) a female Snivvian matukai named Reepa. The latter had fallen to the Dark Side of the Force as a result of being obliged to kill her own twin brother. A sculptor whose original goal was to study the bloodwood-carving art of the bird-beaked insectoids native to the planet Batorine, had diverged into studying their assassination arts, as well. Resulting in one of the most sociopathic killers to ever be employed by the Black Sun crime syndicate: Veek "The Skin Sculptor" Torzoz!
Reepa, in turn, went on a killing spree of her own. Initially targeting Thalassian slavers, who were notorious for always preying on her people for their subcutaneous thermo-regulatory membranes. Then, she went after the executives of unscrupulous starship manufacturers, like the Karflo Corporation, who secretly employed those slavers. All of that culminating with her systematic massacre of whole crews aboard whatever starships might be using those membranes in their engine-cooling systems. No matter how unwittingly! And it was in an effort to evade a husband-and-wife team of Cathars, working as Sector Rangers for the Quelii Sector, that Reepa had landed on Dathomir. Alas! That hope proved in vain. Fortunately, for her, the renegade matukai's Force presence was detected and traced, by the young Nightsister, who arrived just in time to intervene in the ensuing two-against-one battle... on Reepa's behalf.
Harlek learned more about the Force, in general, and the Dark Side in particular, from the Skin Scultor's sister, than she could ever have hoped to be taught by the shamans of her clan. That, in turn, is why she had never avenged Reepa's death at the hands of Shatterfist when that bounty-hunting mixed blood caught up to them. Because she could sense he was more in tune with the Force than even Reepa had been. But, the two of them put together paled in comparison to the Force presence she now sensed emanating from the shrunken Ayrou, Rek'oj!
Hence, the anticipatory grin on her face as she approached Diana Themiscyra, slowly twirling her Force-hardened bloodwood mallet like a wan-shen while the Hapan special agent merely stood her ground. And, from the Huntress' point of view, what happened over the next few moments seemed to occur in slow motion.
The Nightsister's first attempt to kill Diana was with a blow to her head, delivered in a counter-clockwise spin. But, the Hapan special agent was able to block with the bottom half of the Siang lance's blade. Harlek then spun clockwise, aiming her mallet at Diana's legs, in an attempt to at least knock her off her feet. The raven-haired warrior woman saw that coming, however, and parried with a downward-thrust of the blade. So, Harlek returned to spinning counter-clockwise. Only, she stopped half way through in an attempt to, once again, use the head of her mallet as a battering ram. Aiming to knock the wind out of this opponent the same way she had done so to the Huntress!
Yet Diana was not fooled by that feint. Indeed, she waited to the next-to-last possible micro-second to avoid it... by jumping straight up in the air and letting the mallet's head passed beneath her. Her legs spread to either side of it in an inverted V-shape! She then plunged the pointed end of the Siang lance straight downward. Thereby impaling the head of the mallet to the deck of the Huntress' spacecraft. The momentum of that impact, in turn, allowed Diana to almost cart-wheel the soles of her spacer boots into Harlek's midriff. Knocking the wind out of the blonde Nightsister!
Unfortunately, her matukai training had been such that Harlek was back on her feet in almost no time. Diana, anticipating that, swiftly doffed her cape and threw it in Harlek's face. This blinded the latter just long enough that Diana was able to leap over the former's head, land behind her, and wait for the cape to be thrown to the deck in obviously angry frustration. There was a crucial two seconds of reorientation. Followed by a moderately audible whistle from Diana. Harlek quickly spun about... and took a right jab to her midriff. Followed by a left-handed palm heel strike straight upward to her jaw!
A blow like that would have rendered any other opponent immediately unconscious, in addition to dislocating their jaw. But, again, Harlek was only stunned! So, the Huntress took advantage of the opportunity to lunge forward and recover her dislodged mini-bowcaster. Whereupon, she set it for the highest non-lethal setting possible, turned about, and fired.
This time, it worked. Harlek stayed unconscious. So, the Huntress took the opportunity to look at the Hapan special agent and smile.
"Nice moves."
"Thanks. I learned them from a shipwrecked Japrael Sector Ranger named Trevo. Long story!"
"Well, you can tell me it when you're finished trussing her up. In the meantime, I'll stow this little guy away in a secure container within my cargo hold."
She indicated the shrunken Rek'oj, who had been uncharacteristically silent in his cage during the whole fight. The Huntress did not even bother to look in on him, however. Which was unfortunate. For, if she had, she might have been seen him sitting in a meditative state akin to what the Jedi of the Old Republic would have called... a battle trance.
MEANWHILE, BACK AT DR. REDUCTO'S CLINIC. . .
The Hawk-Batman looked the shirtless stranger up and down.
"Sorry. But, if you're here for a physical, the doctor just stepped out."
"I am here for you," replied the cerato-cephalic humanoid. "I am Shatterfist of House Paramexor. And you are under arrest! A bounty has been placed on your head, dead or alive, for the murder of the human data processor named Jennings, back on New Cov."
"Who issued the bounty? Black Sun?"
"That is no concern of mine," snapped the bounty hunter. "Nor yours! You have been duly notified of the charge against you. Will you come along, peaceably? Or will you grant me the satisfaction of doing this the hard way?"
The Hawk-Batman smiled. "You really should be wearing a vest, at least. You might catch your death of cold."
Whereupon, he threw a trio of strange-looking pellets at Shatterfist!
The latter sensed the former was about to try something drastic. Consequently, he lunged back through the front entrance of the clinic just as the pellets exploded in mid-air. Revealing themselves to be miniature cryoban grenades! And, just like the much larger standard-issue variety, they instantly froze all the ambient water vapor- -as well as all solid matter- -in their immediate vicinity. Forming an ice wall too thick for even Shatterfist to punch through! He therefore muttered some kind of profanity, in Antarian, before running toward the rear entrance.* He was too late, however.
The Hawk-Batman had already, and quite literally, taken off. The flames from his boot jets visible in the gradually fading darkness of Nar Shadda's so-called "dawn." So, muttering another profanity, Shatterfist ran back toward where he had parked his rented swoop. Taking off on it in the same general direction as his costumed quarry.
Namely; the spaceport.
And, as soon as he was airborne, Shatterfist used his right hand to raise his commlink to his lips.
"Jondo to Harlek. Jondo to Harlek. Abort surveillance of those women. Repeat: abort surveillance of those women! Our main quarry is making a run for it toward the spaceport. With a hostage in tow! Lock on to this frequency and prepare to intercept him between us. Do you copy? Over."
There was a brief pause before he started shouting into the commlink in a much louder tone of voice.
"Harlek! Do you copy? Respond at once. Over!"
Aboard the Huntress' starship, a custom-modified Barloz-class Corellian freighter dubbed the "XLR-8", Diana Themiscyra listened to this over the commlink she had confiscated from the still-unconscious Nightsister. The latter had not only had her arms stun-cuffed behind her, at the wrists, but, her mouth had also been double-gagged with washcloths. One, balled up and stuffed in her mouth; the other, tied over and around it. And, as an extra precaution, her legs had been bound together at the ankles with nerf-hide rope. With the free end fashioned into a noose and placed around Harlek's throat!
It was as soon as she had finished securing these bonds that Shatterfist had begun his transmission. So the first thing Diana did was go over to the nearest intercom and attempt to relay what she had heard to the Huntress.
"Helena. Are you finished seeing to that little loudmouth, yet? There's something I need to tell you. Helena? Are you there?"
Though the Hapan special agent would have denied having any Force sensitivity, she nonetheless had a sudden premonition of something being wrong. So, confiscating Harlek's bloodwood mallet for her own use, Diana ran as fast as she could toward the cargo hold. Consequently, when she got there, she saw that her premonition had not been mistaken. For the external hatch to the hold was wide open...
...and the Huntress was nowhere to be seen.
Nor would it have provided any comfort if she had been able to see the Huntress, at that moment. For the latter was presently in the pilot's seat of a Lamba-class shuttle that resembled nothing less than an albino mynock. A glazed expression on her face. And with the shrunken Ayrou now sitting upon her right shoulder, triumphantly laughing at the top of his lungs.
"HEEEEE-HEEEE-HEEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! Next stop? The good ship Devastator."
tbc
Antarian: the language of the Gotal people (natives of Antar 4).
